Smokin’ Burgers with Ardbeg

Burgers. They’re bloody delicious. Add cheese and bacon to the mix, and you have one of the best foods on the planet. Today, I was craving that food. While there are many debates on where you can find or how to cook the best burger, my goal today is to simply share what transpired in my kitchen. Yes, kitchen. You see, I know it’s summer time. Which means we should all be out grilling up a storm, but I didn’t feel like it. I took burger patties out the freezer, threw them in a microwave to defrost, and whipped out my trustworthy cast iron skillet. Blasphemous? Meh.

While my skillet was heating up, I was sipping on another trustworthy item in my kitchen, Ardbeg Uigeadail. At this point, you probably know where I’m going with this. With the patties and bacon in the skillet, I threw about 2 ounces of the cask strength beast from Islay in it, cause why not? Soon as the whisky hit the heat, my kitchen was shrouded in a cloud of sweet and smokey aroma. So let’s recap:

Seasoned burger patties. Check.

Hickory smoked bacon. Check.

Pepper jack cheese. Check.

Ardbeg Uigeadail for good measure. Check and check!

The picture doesn’t even do it justice.

Couple minutes later, I was biting into one amazing burger. This is probably one of the best ideas I’ve had in the past month. I mean, it’s one thing to drink some single malt with your food, it’s another thing to cook your food with it. Frankly, with this smokey guy cooking my burgers, who needs a grill?